Hot Springs is known as a spa town. Its thriving tourist industry is primarily due to the well known mineral water bubbling up from the numerous underground springs. The horse race track, Oaklawn Park, is also a major tourist attraction. The primary sectors for employment in Hot Springs are education, arts and entrainment, recreation, accommodation and food services, health and social services and retail trade.
Hot Springs has been ranked the third hottest labor market for cities with less than 50,000 jobs by the American City Business Journal. One of the major factors for the ranking is the flourishing tourism industry. According to the ACCRA Cost of Living Index, Hot Springs is the 12 least expensive urban area to live in when compared to the 311 urban areas that were evaluated. In addition, the average salary in early 2009 was $23,000. For the population over the age of 25 about 11% have a bachelor's degree and about 6% have a graduate degree.
The most popular occupations in Hot Springs which are typically filled by college graduates are registered nurses, teachers, wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives, accountants and auditors, social and human service assistants, medical and health services managers and pharmacists. The jobs which are more common in Hot Springs than most of the nation's other cities are aircraft mechanics and service technicians, sheet metal workers, structural metal fabricators and fitters, cabinet makers and bench carpenters.
Shown below are the major employers in Hot Springs:
- St. Joseph's Mercy Health Center
- Walmart
- National Park Medical Center
- Oaklawn Park
- City of Hot Springs
- Hot Springs School District
- Southwest Hotels
- Delta Plastics
- Kroger's
- Weyerhaeuser
- Chem-Fab Corporation/ Related Co's
- Garland County
- Abilities Unlimited
- Hot Springs Rehabilitation Center
- National Park Community College
- Alliance Rubber
- Window Mart
- Alumna-Weld Inc DBA Xpress Boats
- Hi-Tech Compact
Business organizations offering assistance to Hot Springs companies:
The Sentinel-Record provides information about the current business activities in Hot Springs.